[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-1-en-105":3,"doc-seo-304181-105":53,"doc-detail-304181-en":126},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,14,19,24,29,34,39,44,49],{"id":8,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":11,"show_sort_weight":12,"slug":13},11,1,"Template","Presentations",90,"presentations",{"id":15,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":16,"show_sort_weight":17,"slug":18},12,"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":20,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":21,"show_sort_weight":22,"slug":23},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":25,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":26,"show_sort_weight":27,"slug":28},15,"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":30,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":31,"show_sort_weight":32,"slug":33},16,"Social Media",50,"social-media",{"id":35,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":36,"show_sort_weight":37,"slug":38},17,"Forms",40,"forms",{"id":40,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":41,"show_sort_weight":42,"slug":43},18,"Letters",30,"letters",{"id":45,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":46,"show_sort_weight":47,"slug":48},21,"Paper Templates",5,"papers-templates",{"id":50,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":51,"show_sort_weight":4,"slug":52},158,"General","general-158",{"code":4,"msg":54,"data":55},"ok",{"site_id":56,"language":57,"slug":58,"title":59,"keywords":60,"description":61,"schema_data":62,"social_meta":119,"head_meta":121,"extra_data":123,"updated_unix":125},105,"en","on-the-possibility-of-a-no-return-tax-system","ON THE POSSIBILITY OF A NO-RETURN TAX SYSTEM","","Recent events have driven interest in reducing or eliminating annual income tax return filing through no-return tax systems. The approach requires collecting revenue via withholding plus end-of-year reconciliation by the tax agency, removing the obligation for individual taxpayers to submit annual returns. The paper assesses feasibility, administrative and structural trade-offs, and estimates that about half of U.S. taxpayers could shift with relatively minor income tax changes, while benefits and costs depend on unresolved issues.",{"@graph":63,"@context":118},[64,80,101],{"@type":65,"itemListElement":66},"BreadcrumbList",[67,71,74,77],{"item":68,"name":69,"@type":70,"position":9},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":72,"name":10,"@type":70,"position":73},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/",2,{"item":75,"name":51,"@type":70,"position":76},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/general/",3,{"item":78,"name":59,"@type":70,"position":79},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/on-the-possibility-of-a-no-return-tax-system/304181/",4,{"url":78,"name":59,"@type":81,"image":82,"author":87,"headline":59,"publisher":90,"fileFormat":93,"inLanguage":57,"description":61,"dateModified":94,"datePublished":95,"encodingFormat":93,"isAccessibleForFree":96,"interactionStatistic":97},"DigitalDocument",{"url":83,"@type":84,"width":85,"height":86},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/on-the-possibility-of-a-no-return-tax-system/304181.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":88,"@type":89},"Jacob","Person",{"url":68,"name":91,"@type":92},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-21","2026-09-19",true,{"@type":98,"interactionType":99,"userInteractionCount":73},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":100},"ViewAction",{"@type":102,"mainEntity":103},"FAQPage",[104,110,114],{"name":105,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":107},"What is a “no-return” tax system?","Question",{"text":108,"@type":109},"A no-return tax system collects revenues through a mix of withholding and end-of-year reconciliation by the tax agency, so individual taxpayers do not file annual returns.","Answer",{"name":111,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":112},"Why would moving to a no-return system be challenging?",{"text":113,"@type":109},"It creates trade-offs in both the structure of tax policy and the administration of the tax system, and it depends on issues that are not fully resolved.",{"name":115,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Is a no-return system feasible in practice?",{"text":117,"@type":109},"Yes. Thirty-six countries use some form of no-return system for at least some taxpayers, including Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":78,"og:type":120,"og:title":59,"og:site_name":91,"og:description":61},"article",{"robots":122,"canonical":78},"index,follow",{"doc_id":124,"site_id":56},304181,1790006978,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":127},{"doc_id":124,"user_id":128,"nickname":88,"user_avatar":129,"doc_module":9,"category_id":50,"category_name":51,"doc_title":59,"doc_description":61,"doc_content":130,"file_id":131,"file_url":132,"file_type":133,"file_size":134,"view_count":73,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":9,"is_downloadable":9,"audit_status":9,"page_count":15,"language":135,"language_code":57,"site_id":56,"html_lang":57,"table_of_contents":136,"faqs":137,"seo_title":138,"seo_description":61,"update_tm":139,"read_time":79},962084931830,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_a8503ba1806abce46bf441b54a3ca4cd","ON THE POSSIBILITY OF A NO-RETURN TAX SYSTEM  \nWILLIAM G. GALE * & JANET HOLTZBLATT **  \nAbstract- Recent events have stimulated interest in reducing or eliminating the annual filing requirement in the income tax. Thirty-six countries already allow “no-return” systems for some of their taxpayers. Moving to a no-return system creates trade-offs in the structure of tax policy as well as the administration of the tax system. We estimate that roughly half of U.S. taxpayers could be placed on a no-return system with relatively minor changes in the structure of the income tax. The benefits and costs of a no-return system hinge on a number of issues that are currently unresolved.  \nThe last few years have seen an outpouring of proposals for radical reform of the nation’s tax system . These reforms have been motivated by a wide variety of goals—improved economic efficiency, a fairer distribution of tax burdens, and, perhaps most of all, the desire to simplify the operation, compliance, and administration of the  \ntax system . A common element of many such proposals is to eliminate end-ofyear tax return filing requirements for some or all taxpayers . In a “no-return”tax system, revenues would be collected through some combination of withholding and end-of-year reconciliation by the tax agency; individual taxpayers would not file annual returns .  \nNo-return systems are clearly feasible: thirty-six countries—including Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and several other industrialized nations—use some form of no-return system for at least some of their taxpayers (U.S. General Accounting Office [GAO], 1996) .  \nMoving to a no-return system, however, has implications for both the administrative and structural features of the tax system . Our goal in this paper is to identify and provide information on some of the major trade-offs involved. We focus on proposals that maintain the income tax in recognizable form, rather than on proposals to partly or wholly replace the income tax with noreturn systems such as a national retail sales tax or a value-added tax .  \n*The Brookings Institution, Washington, D. C. 20036.  \n** Department of the Treasury, Washington, D. C. 20220.  \nThe next two sections describe different types of no-return systems and summarize features of the British system . We  \nNATIONAL TAX JOURNAL VOL. L NO. 3  \nthen provide estimates of how many U.S. individual income tax returns could be eliminated under various sets of changes in the tax code . The last section provides some concluding remarks .  \nNO-RETURN SYSTEMS  \nThere are, broadly speaking, two types of no-return systems—exact withholding and tax agency reconciliation—with many possible variations on each prototype .  \nExact Withholding  \nIn exact withholding systems, the tax agency makes every effort to withhold the exact amount of taxes so that no end-of-year filing, payment, or refund is needed. Thirty-four countries operate exact withholding systems . These systems require taxpayers to report some minimal, nonfinancial information to either employers or the tax authorities . (In the United States, this would likely consist of items such as name, address, social security number, filing status, name and social security number of spouse and dependents .) The information is used to calculate withholding allowances by either the employer or the tax authority (who must then report the applicable withholding codes back to the employer) . Taxpayers may be required to report this information on a regular basis or whenever there is a change in circumstances .  \nTwo types of exact withholding systems exist. Cumulative systems (used in the United Kingdom and Russian Federation) aim to withhold exactly the right amount of taxes at each point in the year; final withholding systems (used in Germany and Japan) make adjustments to the final paycheck in the tax year to achieve exact withholding. Some countries combine one of these ap-  \nproaches with other requirements; in Chile, fo","cbCaidp03HiNIHrv","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaidp03HiNIHrv","pdf",86467,"English","# Abstract\n# No-Return Systems\n## Exact Withholding\n## Tax Agency Reconciliation","[{\"question\":\"What is a “no-return” tax system?\",\"answer\":\"A no-return tax system collects revenues through a mix of withholding and end-of-year reconciliation by the tax agency, so individual taxpayers do not file annual returns.\"},{\"question\":\"Why would moving to a no-return system be challenging?\",\"answer\":\"It creates trade-offs in both the structure of tax policy and the administration of the tax system, and it depends on issues that are not fully resolved.\"},{\"question\":\"Is a no-return system feasible in practice?\",\"answer\":\"Yes. Thirty-six countries use some form of no-return system for at least some taxpayers, including Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom.\"}]","ON THE POSSIBILITY OF A NO-RETURN TAX SYSTEM | PDF",1789810830]